Cash Flow Is Oxygen

Come and listen to our Host, Candace Gish, as she chats with today's guest, Katie Nelson, for our “Determined, Not Distracted” Podcast Series.

This mini-series serves as your blueprint for a high-impact year, distilling success into three non-negotiables: Goal Clarity, Resilience, and Commitment. By sharpening your focus, hardening your mental toughness, and anchoring your habits in discipline, you’ll shift from chasing temporary inspiration to achieving unstoppable, year-long momentum. 

Katie Nelson, Founder and CEO of Sales UpRising, has built her business around this message: Cashflow Is Oxygen. She is committed to bringing the fun back into sales and helping her clients grow their small businesses into six-figure-plus Big League Players. Katie is a speaker, consultant, and business coach with a total 25 years of sales expertise and $150 million sold in products and services. She believes that solopreneurs and microbusinesses can harness their profit-making potential to maximize their revenue. Known as “The Sales Catalyst,” Katie has worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs to transform their companies from ideas to thriving businesses. She is adamant that any entrepreneur can sell his or her knowledge, gifts, and passions to the world, because sales are key to a successful business and a skill available to everyone.

http://www.facebook.com/salesuprising

http://www.instagram.com/salesuprising

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thesalescatalyst/

We sit down with sales strategist and coach Katie Nelson to talk about turning determination into revenue, why cash flow is oxygen, and how habits and community keep small businesses thriving. We trade stories on women-led momentum, pricing that fits the market, and the power of giving yourself grace and space.

• the Determined Not Distracted series focus on clarity, resilience, commitment
• Katie’s path to Sales Uprising and her Venn diagram of value
• online versus in-person selling as a channel choice
• sales fundamentals that outlast tools and trends
• women entrepreneurs gaining confidence and support
• cash flow as oxygen and funding with client revenue
• group masterminds, peer learning, and fair pricing
• habits as muscles and the value of grace and space
• where to find Katie on LinkedIn, YouTube, and email

For more Divas That Care Network Episodes visit www.divasthatcare.com

Transcript

Welcome And Series Framing

SPEAKER_00 0:00

It's Divas that Care Radio. Stories, strategies, and ideas to inspire positive change. Welcome to Divas That Care, a network of women committed to making our world a better place for everyone. This is a global movement for women, by women engaged in a collaborative effort to create a better world for future generations. To find out more about the movement, visit divas that care.com after the show. Right now, though, stay tuned for another jaunt of inspiration.

Meet Katie Nelson

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Well, hello everyone, and welcome back to the Divas That Care. My name is Candice Gish. If this is your very first time tuning into this, a huge welcome. We've been, we're now in our 16th season. We're listening to over 35 countries around the world. And it's because of all of our amazing divas, our hosts, our guests, our tribe, everybody out there. You know, thank you so much. It's because of you that we're able to continue to do this and to get more listeners and inspire more people. So we're all about that ripple effect. So we really thank you for that. We are working on a podcast series right now called Determined, Not Distracted. This miniseries serves as your blueprint for a high impact year, distilling success into three non-negotiables: goal clarity, resilience, and commitment by sharpening your focus, hardening your mental toughness, and anchoring your habits into discipline. You'll shift from chasing temporary inspiration to achieving unstoppable year-long momentum. Today I am very excited to be welcoming to our family, Katie Nelson. And Katie is going to inspire all of you today. So welcome to our Diva family, Katie.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

Oh, Candace, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

It's so appreciated. Hi, everybody. I am so happy to have you, and I can't wait to get to know you better. So, Katie, would you mind introducing yourself to our listeners today?

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Sure. Uh, my name is Katie Nelson. I am a serial entrepreneur. The thing I am most proud of in my life is my 22-year marriage. I am an animal lover, an aunt, a caretaker, a daughter. So there's lots of pieces, Candace. What do you want to know?

SPEAKER_01 2:13

I love it. Dealing with a whole bunch of snow down in you said Virginia?

SPEAKER_02 2:18

Yes. Uh Virginia has these really weird conditions that we've had. We haven't had these types of conditions for like a decade where we have all this crazy ice that's we have we currently live in a frozen tundra. You'd think we were up in Alaska. Everything's just staying. We had like two feet of snow, and it's mostly still here. Two weeks later.

Coaching Focus And Sales Uprising

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Oh my gosh. Isn't that crazy? And I I was laughing. And Katie and I were talking right before the show. It's like where I live, all the snow is melting. And that's just odd because we usually get snow until you know March, April here. So to know that she's getting it, we're not is just really crazy. Agreed. Katie, tell me a little bit about what you do for business because I'm excited. I've been looking at your website all morning here, just to kind of get an idea of the things that you're doing. And I'm like, oh my gosh, to be like to start it off. Your website is beautiful. You know, I really love it. I love just looking at it. And the colors, you're obviously a very purple person, and which is beautiful because you guys can't see her right now, but she looks absolutely beautiful. And then her website really goes with it and it stands out and it's really eye-catching. And I'm like, you know what? I can see how this person really makes a difference in people's lives.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

Oh my gosh. Well, one, thank you very much. Shout out to Red Clay Creative, to Troy Reimer and his team. They are the ones who put together my website. With that being said, um, what I'm hoping my website communicates is wild action and movement. Um, and I would say that it kind of is in alignment. Part of the reason why I said yes to doing this is because of the series uh Determined Not Distracted. As a small business coach, determination versus distraction is what helps you stay in the lane of making money, which as a serial entrepreneur, I can tell you is sometimes a difficult thing to do, but yet the most important for our small businesses. So uh what I do as a business, I'm a business and sales strategist and coach. That's what I do. I'll have my 10-year anniversary. Sales Uprising is 10 years old this year. And um I, you know, the reason why I love this is because it's the the place where my Venn diagram meets. Um my three circles of my Venn diagram are community, right? Entrepreneurship, and just me. So my expertise. And the very middle of that diagram is sales uprising. So if if we can be successful in our small businesses, what that does is allow us to sell in our businesses, which allows us to have a safer, more firm uh foundation for ourselves as individuals, but it also pours into our communities because we all know that it's the small businesses that take care of the communities that they live in.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

And I I really like what you're saying. And you've really had to probably evolve through the last, you know, six years here because a lot of things have now gone online. We are a global economy, really. You know, a lot of people have really shifted their mindset to not be face-to-face anymore in more kind of online sales. So, how are you navigating through that and helping your clients?

SPEAKER_02 5:29

Um, so I think both can be true. I think that selling can be done online. I think it can be done in person. I think that the detail of how you deliver something, whether it's online or in person, is I don't want to say, I don't want to be so cheeky as to say it's irrelevant, but as long as it's um in alignment with your customer base, it doesn't really matter. So, you know, sales is like the oldest profession on earth, is kind of the thing. Innovation in sales looks vastly different and happens at a slower pace than any other piece of business because the selling piece really is about being able to communicate the solution you have and asking for the deal. So as far as business goes, uh with the past six years, all it is is opportunity. The the whole world of opportunity opened up. So our our goal is to stay determined and focused on where that opportunity fits best for the business that we're trying to build, I guess, is what I would say.

Online Vs In‑Person Sales Reality

SPEAKER_01 6:38

I love that. Do you work a lot with women?

SPEAKER_02 6:42

I do. Uh cre oddly enough, hey divas, for those of you who are listening of all shapes and sizes, um you know, my business is never you like you don't see any marketing for my business that says I'm women only. Um, because I believe that all small businesses feed into communities. And if you happen to be a dude and running a business, then great. This applies to you too. If you are in fact brave enough to come and work with me. Um and over the course so traditionally my book of business has been 60-40. 60% women, 40% men. Over the past two and a half years, there has been the craziest shift. And my book of business has been 100% women-owned businesses for two and a half years. Wow. Go figure.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Don't know what that says. I find that there's a lot more women entrepreneurs getting out there because of the confidence. I've I've seen a real big shift, you know, talking to women for the last, oh my gosh, 16 years on this podcast, you know, was really about what they needed and the collaborations they were making, and they weren't feeling very um supported. So they were looking for networks in order to support them. And I think it's just shifted, you know, they're not feeling that way. They feel like they are supported and there's so many people locking arms with them. And it's just the more and more, and they're mentoring other women, and it it's amazing to see the confidence in women in business like never before.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

I love hearing your perspective. Running a 16-year podcast is um is determination, right? Not distraction. And so those are great statistics to hear. I hope you preach that from the mountaintops, Candace.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Well, it's really neat to see, and it's really amazing just to be able to talk to somebody like you that you know supports you know people in business, right? That's what it's all about. And I do want to talk to you a little about what do you mean by cash flow is oxygen?

SPEAKER_02 8:39

Baby. Well, if you think about a fire, um, what feeds a fire is oxygen. So if you don't have any oxygen, your fire goes out, and therefore you are in the cold. For a business, uh, and there's so this won't be the first place that I've said this, but your business only eats cash. It does not care about your feelings, it doesn't care about your business as an entity, it doesn't care about a whole lot other than the fact that you feed it cash daily. Because that's what it takes for your business to live on. So if we take the emotional piece of us as business owners in our business out of the equation, it's called business for a reason. It only eats cash. So cash flow and having a consistent cash flow is what feeds the fire of your business. Fire cash flow into the oxygen.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

You know what? I love that you're saying that because some people don't realize that, do they?

Women Entrepreneurs And Support Networks

SPEAKER_02 9:35

Unfortunately, no. And it's okay. Like when you're first starting a business, it's all right. If you if you are coming at a thing and you have a solution and you know it's a solution and you know the people who you provide the solution for, starting a business on your passion and expertise alone is great. And over the course of you being a business owner, you will quickly come to realize that your cash, your business eats cash. And so whether or not it's you being brave enough to ask for people to be your clients and ask for their cash, or if you end up feeding your business your savings account in cash, I mean, your business doesn't care where that comes from.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

No, it doesn't.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

So it just needs it. Yeah, it doesn't, it it's not um picky. No, it's not picky. It doesn't care. As long as you can take it and it can say yum, it will. And so, you know, if we're gonna talk about determination and not distraction, for those of you divas that are listening right now that are either thinking about starting their business or are in their first year of starting your business, like if you're in the beginning of your startup phase, I want you to be determined to feed your business other people's money. That's what I that's how I would bring that back around to the topic at hand. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

So, can I I'm gonna ask you, Katie, do you work mostly one-on-one? Do you work in group settings? How does that work?

SPEAKER_02 11:06

So I don't mostly work one-on-one. I mostly work in group settings, whether that's through the masterminds that I run, uh of which I run two separate masterminds for the two main phases of startup business. Uh, I do one-on-one coaching for my clients that are already monetized, right? So, you know, here you go. Pro tip, you guys. When you're thinking about charging what you're worth, and I know you hear this all the time. You need to charge what you're worth, and then you roll your eyes and go, well, what the hell does that mean? Oh, excuse me. Uh, so let me tell you what that means. Don't forget what your target client's budget is. So my target clients haven't made a hundred million dollars in their business yet, right? So it would be inappropriate for me to charge crazy rates hourly for them. That doesn't make any kind of sense. So the majority of my clients that I give one-to-one time to are uh traditionally have already made over a quarter of a million dollars or 250k US. Um the majority of the rest of them are all in group. So I mostly do group. I do some one-on-one.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

I think that's fascinating. I really love that. And I like because in group settings too, you can you have your peers there. You've got people that you can also collaborate with, and it's really nice that way because you just feel like you've got goals and you can work with people and you can chat with them. And sometimes you can't always do that with somebody that's you're working with. Like I it's not to say that Katie, you as a person wouldn't, but it's always nice to have somebody else like, okay, what did you think about that? What do you what did you take from that? And how do we work on that? So I I think that's a brilliant strategy.

SPEAKER_02 12:49

Well, thank you. It's a strategy that I teach for people who do services-based businesses, depending on the kind. Um, but yes, it, you know, that component of having the reason why a mastermind works traditionally is because you have a built-in peer group who has the same challenges that you are having. And so it's wonderful, even if it is just to understand that you are not alone in this sea of entrepreneurship or business ownership, like it there is something to be said for knowing, oh my gosh, I'm not crazy, I'm not dumb. Like these are questions that even though I think maybe I shouldn't know the answer, it's okay when I don't, because look at all these other people, they didn't have that answer either.

Cash Flow Is Oxygen

SPEAKER_01 13:33

Yeah. Well, and it's not even just that. It's it's like in that realizing that we're reaffirming what we know. And sometimes you kind of get lost in that. Like for myself, I used to do a lot of go to a lot of speakers over the years. And but I know that in my head, I'm like, I need that again. I need to have that to know that what I'm doing is correct or isn't correct. Having that person like yourself that's speaking out there and talking and sharing is like, oh, I did do that. Right. Oh, I forgot about that. And I need to readjust everything and put it back into it.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

I love that, I love the, oh, I forgot about that. Uh you know, over the course of any given day, we learn a lot of things, right? There's a lot of tabs in our brain open, on uh especially women from you know, a studies perspective, it will tell you that the tabs in our brain are open. And so it's not um inappropriate that we forget something. Traditionally, the things we forget are our own basic. There's a reason why I got to the levels of success that I've gotten to, and sometimes I forget what those are. And it's a really great thing to, whether it's once a year or once a quarter, remind myself how I got here, pick those habits back up, polish them, polish them, um, and put them back into my business for the betterment of me and my business. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

Oh, Katie, I love that because that's what I think too. And it's over the years because you get so busy and so many things and you're you're focused, and then you forget. I will go through and like, what was that again? I can't remember. And then I'm like, somebody started talking about it. I'm like, oh my goodness, I completely have to put yeah, I love it. Because I thought I was the only one.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

You were not the only one. And I took all I heard just now, Candace, is the next series is gonna be called Focus, not forgetful. So like I just we've got a lot of pieces. I think that looks great, you know. Um there's tons of people who would tell you a habit forms in seven days, a habit forms in 28 days, a habit forms in 31 days. How long do you think it takes to create a habit?

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Oh my gosh, a lifetime.

unknown 15:36

Right.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

I think what I think the the conversation that people don't have is that you can be working a habit and working a habit, and as soon as you quit, like you stop for whatever reason, whether it's because your business day didn't allow for it, whether something else happened in your day that just wasn't planned, like I don't know about you, but I I am lucky enough to be the caretaker of our seniors in the family, right? So if I get a call from something that's going on in their world, that uh I may no longer be focused on doing that thing that I have a habit for. And so then it just falls off, right? So I tell everybody, I tell my clients, like anything can become any muscle can become flabby. So you just need to be determined that that's a whether it's a selling muscle, whether it's a connecting muscle. That is brilliant, whether it's a delivering muscle, like any muscle that we've ever had can become flabby with disuse. So just start using it again.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

I absolutely love how you said that because I have a few muscles there that need to be worked on a little bit more. Same, same. I love this. Uh Katie, how can our listeners get a hold of you?

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Um well, as long as they're not looking to get a hold of me by the neck, they can come present me in Northern Virginia anytime they want. Um, no, so I've got I've got an email address, I have a YouTube page, I have LinkedIn. LinkedIn is probably the easiest because I'm there the most. So Katie Nelson, Sales Uprising, you can find me on LinkedIn. I've also got, you know, like I said, a YouTube page. Katie at salesuprising.com is where you can email me. I'm kind of findable, Candace.

Early-Stage Advice And OPM

SPEAKER_01 17:22

Doing for all of our listeners, I will be posting all of Katie's information on our social media so that you can just click and go check her out. So that'll be a lot easier too. Katie, I hope that you come back on the DivaZec Care. I hope that we can have another conversation and have fun and just chat like this. At your wish, ma'am. Excellent. Well, this has been so much fun. I do want to say, you know, thank you guys so much for checking out Katie here. Uh Katie, is there any last-minute tips, things you want to share with our listeners? Um, perhaps some speaking places where they can go and listen to you.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

Oh gosh. Um, so I just did a speaking engagement in Cincinnati two weeks ago uh for a group called Together Digital. I've got speaking engagements coming up in March and May. I will make sure that all of that is on the events page when you guys go and visit it. But you can always catch edible clips, easy breezy tips to strengthen your muscles on my YouTube channel at Sales Life Rising.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

Oh, thank you so much. And Katie, would you like to leave any last-minute things with our listeners? Um, something to inspire them through their goal, clarity, resilience, and commitment.

Groups, Masterminds, And Pricing Fit

SPEAKER_02 18:37

Absolutely. When we're talking, thank you for the opportunity, Candace. The the thing I'm gonna tell you is going to seem kind of counterintuitive, but I want you to hear me and I want you to think about it if you don't quite get it the first time you hear it. I want you to give yourself grace and space. When we hear that, we traditionally think, okay, great, Katie, thanks. You've provided me with this fantastic opportunity to give myself excuses. And that's not what I'm talking about. What I know over the course of the past 30 years in business, up to and including four separate businesses and selling over$150 million, is that the harder I am on myself, the more I beat myself up about something, I give myself less and less space to be in. But what my life requires, both for my business, my clients, and my happiness, is more space, more space to be maneuverable, more space to be creative, more space. So as you are moving forward in a determined way for your 2026 year, I want you to make it a habit. I want you to have very strong muscles to say yes to your own grace and space for success.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

That was beautifully said. Thank you so much, Katie. I have had so much fun with you today. I I've learned so much, and it's just been so much fun. I'll be honest. I'm just giggling. I just I loved it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

Thank you, Candace.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

And to all of our amazing listeners out there, thank you so much for tuning into this podcast series. Make sure that you check out all the other series, but also take this one. Take Katie's show and send it to your friends and family. Make sure you like, share, and comment on everything. It's really important to do that. We love to support and collaborate with all of our amazing guests. So I just want to do a big shout out to Katie to thank her so much. And I also want to remind each and every one of you to do something kind today. So until next time, everyone.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Thanks for listening. This show was brought to you by Divas That Care. Connect with us on Facebook, on Instagram, and of course on divasletcare.com, where you can subscribe to our newsletter so you don't miss a thing.